Fact

A surprise increase in natural gas prices could allow Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. to deploy a sixth drilling rig in the Marcellus Shale by the fall, helping the company accelerate its plans for pad drilling and move more primary term acreage into production.

Despite the fact that a winter chill and storm were still battering much of the Northeast, Midcontinent and Mid-Atlantic, January natural gas futures expired on a negative note Thursday as some market watchers were beginning to question whether the United States might be in for a repeat performance of the overall weather mildness recorded during the 2011-2012 winter.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said Tuesday the number of drilling rigs active in the Utica Shale during the last week of October had more than doubled compared with the same week in 2011, with an increase in rigs targeting oil more than offsetting the loss of natural gas rigs.

Despite the fact that rig counts have fallen across the shale basins, analysts at Barclays Capital said they believe that associated gas production will continue to grow to offset a portion of the decline in production from dry gas drilling.

Despite the fact that rig counts have fallen across the shale basins, analysts at Barclays Capital said they believe that associated gas production will continue to grow to offset a portion of the decline in production from dry gas drilling.

Eagle Ford Oil & Gas Corp. has been watching the producer activity around its more than 3,600 acres in Frio County, TX, and is working to raise capital by the end of the year to start drilling some wells of its own, the company said Wednesday.

The Marcellus Shale Coalition (MSC) on Tuesday released a Recommended Practice (RP) for pre-drill water supply surveys, the third in a series of shale development recommendations by the industry-backed organization. The latest RP is intended to ensure that homeowners’ water is properly tested prior to oil and gas development in their areas.

Federal officials have confirmed that two agencies studying the effects of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) are conducting their work in Washington County, PA, near a Marcellus Shale drilling and impoundment site that is the target of a lawsuit.

If natural gas prices were to fall to $1, that wouldn’t be such a bad thing, according to EnerVest Ltd. CEO John Walker. In fact, low prices may be the industry’s “greatest savior,” he said last week at Bentek Energy’s Benposium in Houston.